Diogo Ribeiro

I don't need a test to know I'm Umaro: ugly, hairy and stupid.

It's really worth it if you can ignore the somewhat bare bones story and offbeat presentation. There's some similarities with Omikron: The Nomad Soul and even Call of Cthulhu, in that it tries to combine some genre conventions - adventure, action, stealth - into a single experience.

Oh and, just finished the truck sequence escaping Innsmouth. I've seemd to contract a nasty disease - lead poisoning by extreme contact with enemies using freakin' Tommy Guns.

Currently going through Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth. It's being somewhat hit and miss. I enjoy the setting and the focus on stealth and exploration - even if the latter is harmed by a considerably restrictive environment there's a couple of situations which can be handled differently. The combat isn't very difficult considering enemies aren't very sharp - though I'm playing in the second difficulty level since harder modes apparently need to be unlocked (!) - and stealth kills are at least there. By far the most frustrating experience so far as been escaping the Gilman hotel since the escape sequence requires a very fixed set of movements and actions, and learning them is a clear trial and error process instead of a more fluid, open-ended scenario. Also, the possible paranoia system (which induces paranoia and dementia on the main character if he is exposed to too many gruesome or disturbing situations) is nice but tricky to manage since - at least from a first time player perspective - it requires you don't explore and find the situations in the first place, thus presenting the paradox of wanting you to experience all the game's details but requiring you to not expose yourself to them. There's all kinds of neato stuff as well, such as the healing system. As in other games you'll find healing kits but these don't work as your standard healing items in other games where all you need to do is walk over them to be healed - you need to use it so you can heal specific body parts. The game employs a location-based hit system (for instance, a shot to the legs will have you move slower during the effect's duration) and you need to specify you want to heal that particular body part in the character screen. You even have different items in medkits to do this, such as gauze and sutures. At this moment, Call of Cthulhu is shaping up to be an unsung hero, a horror adventure underdog which definitely is a few notches above the usual Resident Evilesque affair but goes by unnoticed due to poor advertising and development hell.

Never watched Babylon 5, but I'm pretty positive it's Russian in nature. Maybe someone from the Motherland can correct me on that? I like it because it's an examplary quote that illustrates his dissertations on philosophy, in particular choices and how people will react to them. And because it pretty much embodies a timeless, social malaise: a certain outcry for unshackled or unbounded expression but an inability to justify said expression. To speak one's mind freely does not deny responsability for said expression; yet, it's all too common to see someone pining for freedom of speech during their discourse but then being unable to deal with an opposite reasoning; this rejection almost accuses others of being thought tyrants simply because they too, are exercising free speech - and free thought along with it - but sit on the other side of the fence. Or, I may be drunk.

Probably because it doesn't have much to do with Fallout?

As you may know, Bioshock will be getting a Limited Edition which was to feature artwork from fans. Well, that competition came and gone and the winning cover - along with other entries - are finally revealed. Check them out, a couple are really well done. The third place, however, is reserved to Goatse:

System Shock 2 soundtrack

If you kept completing missions from one faction then the other factions would go ballistic on you. Actually they'd just sit on their collective asses threatening you with repercussions. At one point in the game they'd also send a couple of goons to put you out of your misery but that's basically all there was to it. Amusingly, regardless of whatever you did against a faction or the severity of certain actions against them, they'd still keep trying to recruit you.

I don't think it even had those.

"And so Dr. Beckett finds himself leaping from life to life, striving to put right what once went wrong, and hoping each time that his next Leap...will be the Leap home..." Yay for Quantum Leap reference! Couple of quotes: "People demand freedom of speech to make up for the freedom of thought which they avoid." -Soren Aabye Kierkegaard "To insist in the past is to lose an eye; to ignore it is to lose both." -Russian proverb

It's a great movie, isn't it? Recently I've seen Goodbye, Lenin.

ComputerAndVideogames reports that a new Riddick game is coming but it's just an extension of the first game: Definitely not a rehash. Oh well.

The plant was tricky but there was a wider hitbox than that of Nightmare. If you failed to hit that precise spot you'd spend your missiles quickly without hitting anything. He also did moderate damage. In hindsight though, that's pretty much how I nailed the second form of the Security Bot - by finding a flaw in the hit detection and scoring hits against it by pointing at a very specific set of pixels.

Yeah, the game has five different endings although they're not terribly good at that - in fact, other than bragging rights about the time and collectibles, it only gets you different pictures of Samus who'll wear less clothing the quicker you finish it. This is probably the worst part of the series concerning the "need" to rush through the game and then only getting a bikini clad Samus as a reward besides the standard ending (Super Metroid also suffers with this). I still like to beat it for the best ending for a challenge; knowing the rooms, exploiting enemy weaknesses and being able to reach places or do things that weren't exactly planned by developers is always great. I know the Japanese version of both Metroid games for the GBA have a Hard Mode but I don't remember if they're present on the US and Euro versions. It's been a while since I played Fusion so I don't remember. I'll plug it in tomorrow to check for one. Yes, the bosses aren't terribly difficult with the exception of the later ones. 3 or 4 you say? You're probably up to the Security Bot. Maybe I've withered in my reflexes over the years but past the Bot all the bosses required some effort. You'll be facing a pretty rad version of the bot later on, and a boss called Nightmare - hardest boss on the entire game - in Sector 5 (the ARC, IIRC). Super Metroid is totally worth it. Larger game map, no one telling you where to go and a much creepier atmosphere - but of course, not a great story. Unfortunately, only one or two bosses are actually hard and as usual it's the ones in the later stages. And since you're playing Fusion now some of the atmosphere and gameplay in Super Metroid may not seem as fresh but still worth it in my humble opinion.

I'd be interested in seeing how Blizzard would tackle a Diablo 3 and how it would handle to the likes of Sacred and Hellgate: London.

How about meat that comes out of a pair of jeans?

Then it's a sequel for all! Conspiracy cracked!

Silly But seriously, why would they be altering between images of both games?

Jaws outsold Psychonauts. I guess it's not really a concern.

What if they announce Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3?

It's just not an RPG without crab mines.

Fixed.

It's jawesome. Sort of. Since you haven't played any yet, here are a couple of things to consider. *If you've played Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, the gameplay will be strikingly familiar. It's pretty much the same minus the spell and level up elements. *The Gameboy Advance Metroids, much like their 2D predecessors and unlike the Prime series, will display different endings according to your completion speed and item percentage. Thus, the best ending will only be achieved by collecting all items and finishing the game under 3 hours. On your first run I don't suggest speeding through it, since much of the charm in the game is just that - exploring and finding just how and where to go to next. If you want to reach the best ending you should probably replay the game a couple of times until you know the map layouts, item locations and how to minimize your time spent on every task. *As for the game itself, it's your standard Metroid - which is a good thing - with a higher focus on story - which is a bad thing. Unlike past games, Metroid Prime has Samus following orders from someone during the majority of the game. Past Metroid titles let you explore the gameworld without any restrictions except for the obvious ones (ie., lack of items to progress). It's not that Fusion restricts you a whole lot but it is a bit more heavy handed concerning your path. *If you have a Gamecube, Metroid Prime and a GBA to NGC cable, you can copy your Fusion data to have Samus in Prime using the Fusion suit. *Otherwise, just enjoy it.

And thanks to the wonders of a political correct moderation system, so does everyone else around here.